It turns out Javy Baez wasn't even close to Tigers worst free agent pursuit

Fans can finally see the light at the at the end of the tunnel for the Detroit Tigers and Javier Baez. Sure, Baez has turned into a useful utility player and even was selected to the American League All-Star team in 2025, but his $140 million contract is certainly going to be remembered as one of the worst deals in Tigers' history.

But for as badly as Baez's deal has aged, it doesn't even hold a candle to the contract former Tigers general manager Al Avila wanted to hand out in 2021.

Before Carlos Correa signed a three-year deal with the Minnesota Twins worth $105.3 million ahead of the 2022 season, the Tigers floated a massive offer. Avila offered Correa a 10-year deal worth $275 million.

Carlos Correa's Tigers contract would have been a disaster.

Now, Correa was very good in 2022, posting a 139 wRC+ with 22 home runs during his first season with the Twins, but that was one of the final seasons where drama didn't define his reputation.

The following offseason included Correa agreeing to seismic deals with the San Francisco Giants and New York Mets, only for him to fail a physical both times. He returned to the Twins on a six-year deal worth $200 million (and vesting options that could push the value to $270 million), but he hasn't quite been the healthy All-Star that he was during the early years of his career.

As evidenced by the fact that the Twins salary-dumping Correa back to the Houston Astros at last summer's trade deadline. The Astros are on the hook for at least $60 million owed to Correa over the next three years, and they already may have some regret. Correa requested to play in the World Baseball Classic in March but was denied when Houston wasn't willing to provide insurance for his contract.

In other words, if Correa got hurt while playing with Team Puerto Rico, the Astros weren't going to pay his salary for any games he would have missed during the regular season.

It's bad enough that the Tigers already created the drama being followed across all of baseball with Tarik Skubal. A universe where the Tigers are also being suffocated by Correa's contract, on top of the Skubal mess, would have broken the fanbase.